‘Innocents’ scary but enjoyable> Play based on James well done by Acadia

From the first shadowy light of “The Innocents,” which opened Tuesday at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville, you know Henry James is going to spook you. Using the convention of the ghost story, he presents a wicked, late-19th century English night at the ornate Bly Manor. The fog scoots around corners and, occasionally, the phantomish image of a man appears just beyond the French windows.

All things considered, he’s probably a ghost. At least that’s what the new Victorian governess is thinking when she arrives to care for the sparklingly mannered children, whose parents are dead and whose last governess offed herself. The housekeeper’s eyes tell of secrets, but no one’s talking. Certainly not the children.

Add a candelabrum, lightning, and the diabolical sound of a music box, and it’s eerie, all right.

So you know it’s serious business when the governess pleads to herself: “I must be careful in what I think.” She could be dealing with an abusive past. She could be hallucinating. She could be the victim of two rotten children who get their kicks out of driving people nutso. With James, you just don’t know — not in the beginning, and not in the end. It’s all implication and ambiguity. You must use your own mind — and your own ghosts — to fill in the blanks.

America’s master of turn-of-the-century dramas about naive ingenues, James can twist and turn a tale that craftily leads you into the company of lots of personal banshees. “The Innocents,” which is William Archibald’s adaptation of James’ 1898 novel “The Turn of the Screw,” pairs the vulnerability of young children — the 8-year-old Flora and her 15-year-old brother Miles — with an adult and aristocratic malevolence that comes crashing down upon their new governess, Miss Giddens.

You have to be willing to go on an all-out pursuit of nuance when it comes to James, or the dramatic effect can get very hokey, indeed. And there are moments in Wayne Loui’s production when the piped-in suspense and the howling pauses between characters are overdone. Ken Stack’s set of deep maroons and browns goes a long way in creating a creepy scene. And Marilee Marchese’s earth-tone costumes rightfully don’t add any cheeriness.

Because the production tends to move along slowly, you halfway wish a real ghost would show up and zap the cast with a bolt of energy. Henry James is psychologically intense, that’s for sure, but he is also quite lively, and that element is generally missing in this show.

Leslie Smith, as Miss Giddens, has the look of a James woman with her eager eyes and sweet voice, but she lacks the naturalistic delivery to make the role truly convincing. On the other hand, Smith is masterful at expressing irritation with the children. Her annoyance is most unsettling and real.

Kathleen Lake, as Mrs. Grose, the housekeeper, points to an ominously repressed danger with every crook of her eyebrow, every look over her shoulder, and her performance carries a good portion of this show. She has a lot of silences to fill onstage, and generally takes up the task with smoothness and grace.

The truly pivotal elements for “The Innocents” are the children. They must be virtuous and guileless and very, very nefarious. Those moments that work best in this production belong to Rachel Henry, as Flora, and Jon Mirin, as Miles. At one point, they dress up like specters and, while Henry hauntingly (and quite beautifully) hums along with the music box, Mirin recites a frightful poem by candlelight. It’s a chilling scene — one that the mind doesn’t quite know how to process because of the macabre juxtaposition of innocence and evil.

There’s enough to enjoy about this show to make it recommendable as good summer theater. At its best, “The Innocents” is grim and scary. Plus it gives some perspective on our own times by revealing the subterranean way psychological and sexual abuses were dealt with 100 years ago. And, if you’re lucky, you’ll hit one of those gloomy coastal nights with just the right amount of fog to make you check the back seat on the ride home.

“The Innocents” will be performed 8:15 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday through July 26, 2 p.m. July 27, and 8:15 p.m. Sept. 9-14 at Acadia Repertory Theatre in Somesville. For information, call 244-7260.